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Stir fry! So, when we hit spring, we tend to go a little nuts at the farm market. There's a period in spring where every meal involves strawberries and asparagus. And ramps, as long as we can get them. OK, same happens in summer. I have a LOT of recipes that involve cherries! The salads had a LOT of strawberries on them. Mine was lettuce, strawberries, tomme, red onion, pistachios. His was lettuce, blue cheese, strawberries, radishes, cherry tomatoes, olives, red onion, pistachios, black pepper. Then, stir fry. Recipe as above, kinda. We replaced the scallions AND the garlic with ramps. And added some mistake mushrooms. Quite tasty. And the boy was quite excited that the recipe TOLD him to put chili crisp on it. He loves chili crisp. Served over brown basmati. It was tasty. Later, ice cream and cookies. Trying a new recipe, hoping to duplicate the taste of the most delicious masticha ice cream we had in Athens, 6 years ago (this week!) now.

It's Sunday, it's baseball season, the weather is decent. This means, of course, grill night! Hangar steak, his favorite. (I like it much better these days, now that I have figured out how to take out that tough strip of sinew that runs down the middle.) Rubbed it with "butcher's rub," let it sit a little while before grilling. Asparagus. Carrots. Corn muffins. Salad (that wasn't grilled!) Nice bottle of tannat. Cheese (baked lemon ricotta) with strawberries for dessert.

Takeout from here for zoom dinner tonight. I had Moo Shi Chicken and chicken wontons. I will have lunch all week from this. The boy had an egg roll, hot and sour soup, and Ma La pork chops. The dinner companions had soup, broccoli, Ma La Kung Pao, Egg roll, and Orange chicken. Everyone was generally pleased. The boy was impressed with the "tingling" effect of the Ma La pork chops. He's still trying to decide if he LIKES it or not. I got him some pepper oil for Christmas - hasn't used it yet, as he is trying to figure out the "best" way to try it. Hope he decides he likes the tingling effect! (Then again, he read the article in the NYT about the pepper and told me about it, so it's his own fault he got it.) So, this works very well for accessible Chinese takeout.

Last night was curry - potato and chickpea, with naan. Also salad. Tonight was leftover buffet. There was a variety to choose from, but we finished the ends of a few things. Also, salad.

Finished up the ramps tonight with a ramp, asparagus, and smoked mozzarella pizza. (Some boy overbought asparagus so I still have some of that.) Quite tasty. Also, salad. Later, there will be ice cream. Man, never let chopped ramps sit in the open for ANY amount of time. That's a STRONG smell.

So last night was asparagus, morel, and ramp frittata. Quite tasty. We were very excited to find morels at 78 Acres at Columbia Heights Farm Market on Saturday. So we revised the meal plan! So good. Also salad. And the more lemon tart. Tonight, I returned to working on the freezer. Cherry meatballs. I am now down to 2 quarts of frozen sour cherries. And some of them, well, they are going back into the freezer! They freeze and reheat well. They are so tasty. I don't love lamb, so I did the meatballs with half beef, half pork. Also, served them with naan rather than pita, and with a little yogurt. Also salad. Later, the end of the lemon tart.

Thursday was another night of Italian Wedding soup from the freezer, along with rosemary bread from the freezer. Salad, not from the freezer. And Italian cookies, that had been stashed in the freezer. Freezer becoming roomier! Friday was carryout, Purple Patch and Mount Desert Ice Cream. Zoom dinner. And last night, yay last night! We are now both fully vaccinated, as are 2 of our regular dinner companions. So we had dinner and game night! First time in over a year. We have had fire pit nights with them, but now that we can safely be together inside... We played 2 new games. Cheese plate appetizer! Roast chicken, all covered in olive oil and Penzey's Northwoods seasoning. Asparagus! There was asparagus at the farm market! Oven roasted with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Carrots - Dorie Greenspan's recipe for spice rubbed roasted carrots with yogurt sauce. Salad. Ramp biscuits. (Bittman's buttermilk/yogurt biscuits with chopped ramps stirred in.) And lemon tart. Assorted seltzer, beer and a bottle of Ravines Dry Riesling. (2017) So tasty. Then, lemon tart with whipped cream on the side. Also so tasty. Oh, it was so much fun to cook for more than just us. And to have dinner, in person, with our friends!

Dinner at Purple Patch, so we picked up some ice cream pints. Praline for me - never had it before. SOOOO good. Salted caramel for him - also delicious. Miso butterscotch was only in the ice cream sandwiches, so didn't get it. Sad.

Purple Patch night! I had wings. He had fried chicken abobo. We split lumpia. The college bud had wings and tocino, and some beers. I forget what our other had. So tasty.

So, I tried many of these places, and went back to some of the places I had already tried that said they MIGHT have it, some time. Nope. Also, it seems that I know nobody with a Costco membership. Never did nail down making it well enough to make me completely happy. It was fine, but not as good as we wanted. Then, Whole Foods, the new one, on Florida Ave, had it around Christmas! So happy! We had it for Christmas breakfast, on some pistachio orange bread that a friend had made for us for Christmas. So random. Then they didn't have it again. I asked. They said their supplier had run out, and they didn't know when it would be back. In there to pick up some lettuce on the way home today I found it again. Now, if only I had some berries. If I don't find any at the farm market this weekend, I will make some quick bread with frozen berries and eat it on that. This is not the same one they used to have. They used to have a loaf of it, and would slice it and wrap it for you. That's OK though, because this tastes just like it. So good. SOOOOO good.

Silver Spring farm market (Spring Valley Farm). We always have to make an expedition there when it is ramp season. They said they would have them this Saturday too, but would almost certainly be done after that. I wish someone with ramps came to the Columbia Heights or Mt Pleasant farm markets! Those are a few of my favorite things.... English muffins and garlic bread! I will now have to get a pack of English muffins for the freezer just for that, because I had never thought of it before. There used to be a place, I forget its name, that had a burger on an English muffin. Was it the place in Georgetown, under the freeway, or the place in Olde Towne Alexandriae, down by the river? I forget. In any case, the food was just OK in general, but I did love that burger. Never ever run out of garlic. How could you eat?

I love ramps. Tonight was Lemon Ramp Risotto. I do not make risotto. The boy does. That's one of the things he likes a lot, and really enjoys making. Also, salad. That, I made. I also made myself a new salad dressing. It's just a basic vinaigrette, but it has olive oil that my Moroccan brother in law gave me. Man, this dressing tastes like olives. Later, pie and ice cream. I will also note, when there are ramps in the compost, the compost bin MUST stay outside.

Oh, I fell behind! Monday was ramp and chorizo quesadilla night. (We also added mushrooms) Salad. Guacamole. Sour Cream. Apple pie and creme fraiche ice cream. Tuesday was frito pie, with green chili with pork from the freezer. Also salad. And again, pie and ice cream.

Nice weather, and it's Sunday. So, grill night! He started a little early today, in case of storms. But we have finished eating, and the storms are just arriving, so it wasn't as close as he was afraid of. Pork chops, rubbed with a spice mix. Ramps! Mushrooms. Brussels sprouts. (Note: DO NOT blanch these before grilling no matter what the recipe says. They were inedible.) And corn pudding (I made a MUCH smaller batch than the recipe expects.) Later, apple pie and creme fraiche ice cream. (Bi-Rite creamery recipe.)

And it was Mezcalero night again. And as ever, we made the guacamole and the frozen margaritas. Mezcalero made his shrimp and chorizo quesadilla and my mole chicken tacos (NO cilantro please). I look forward to the day we can eat there again, but will miss being able to have my own guacamole. Why won't anyone make it without cilantro for me? I made an apple pie and some creme fraise ice cream this afternoon. Soon we will see how those are.

The first time I was on an airplane was 1972. Dad was working for Xerox, and they were transferring him to CA. So we all got on a plane. I was 7, and I was the oldest of 4. And it was paid for by Xerox. And they sent us first class. I have been spoiled ever since. The handouts were not peanuts. They were macadamias. First time I ever had those. (And the last for quite a while too. Expensive!) We all got little wing pins. And big seats. (That was also the first time I remember staying in a hotel. They put us up for a week until our furniture arrived. That was so cool. Except for having to share a bed with my sister, who kicks in her sleep.) Man, what a letdown my first flight in coach was. Although, it was many years later. When we came back east, we drove. I don't think I flew again until I was 17. And I was alone, going to visit a college. (And a great aunt, who lived close to one of the schools I was considering.)

Zorba takeout tonight. I had a masthia cocktail to start, and he had a gin and tonic. Sadly, there was no retsina tonight. So, from Zorba's - chickpea salad (hummus), eggplant salad (baba ganoush), mixed kebabs, sausage platter, and mini baklava. And it was good.

Another night, another freezer meal. Tonight, salad (again, not frozen), rosemary bread, and Italian wedding soup. Later, we will finish the chocoflan. We have made a dent in the freezer. Except there's a lot of corn and a lot of cherries. And spring, and spring produce, is almost HERE NOW.

I am so jealous.

YAY! More shots in more arms! I will be fully vaccinated as of Friday (had the second pfizer shot 3/26). The boy had his second last Saturday. I am so excited. My parents are both fully vaccinated. My mother in law is about to be. We might get to see our parents soon!

The whole dinner sounds good, but every time I read something like this, I wonder if we should have an air fryer. Tonight was freezer enchiladas (Yep, still using down the freezer food). Pork, with beans, cheese, and tomatillo sauce. I need a new technique - lately the enchiladas have taken to cracking badly in the freezer. Also, salad. And chocoflan!

Last night was taquitos. (Often the result of the boy cooking a whole chicken, as on Sunday). Really, so tasty, and a good excuse for a guacamole feast. Also, salad. Tonight was freezer food. Chilis rellenos (stuffed with chicken, cheese, and red taco sauce.) When pepper season runs down, we grab anaheims, and sometimes poblanos, although I far prefer anaheims, and he grills them. I skin them, gut them, stuff them, and freeze them. We have one more dinner of them left in the freezer after tonight. They freeze remarkably well. Also, salad. And of course, more CHOCOFLAN!

I love their dim sum - it is one of the places I look forward to returning as soon as possible.

It's Sunday, and the weather is nice. For the boy, this means grilling! So we had salad (not grilled), and rosemary bread (also not grilled), and beer can chicken, and carrots (with olive oil and a spice mix), and potatoes (recipe from "French Grilling"). Quite tasty. Later, a new experimental dessert - Chocoflan! (ETA: Holy crap that is delicious!)

If you need mediterranean stuff in town, this is the place. I worked at AU years ago, when Shemali's was still over on Macomb, and they were a regular stop. Now, when I need something and don't have time to do a run to the Mediterranean Bakery, I send the boy in there when he is at his allergist. They are well hidden. He had been going to the allergist there for years before I sent him in there for the first time, and he was SHOCKED to find it there!